Go back to school, leave home, or continue working?? What to do with my life...

[Locut0s]

I went to university before and completed about a 1/4 of an undergrad comp sci / mathematics degree (really like math and did well) but problems with depression and anxiety ruined that for me. Since then as many of you know from my previous posts I've been working at a retail store (assistant manager position) making $14/hr. I still live at home (26) which has afforded me the ability so save most of the money I've been earning over the past 3-4 years [no expenses], despite spending almost $10,000 over that time on computer hardware / photography / and home theatre equipment (yes I know this sounds stupid but remember no rent, no car, no other expenses and this is my entertainment no regrets here despite what people are going to say bellow) I now have just under $50,000 in savings. Question is what should be my next step for my savings and my life? I certainly don't want to stay at this job long term although I've actually grown to like it more than one would expect. Here are the options I'm mulling over:

-Rent and apartment, move out and continue working for a while. I would have to keep working as I do NOT intend to fritter away my savings on rent and basics.

-Go back to school full time and get a degree (the 50k should be enough for your average CS/Math degree at least). If not 2 degrees.

-Continue working (I will probably be a manager of a store in about 1/2 a year or so if I were to stay) and save enough to invest in something like a property, read house. The reasoning here is that one doesn't often have this much freely available money not tied up in anything. If I used the money for school it would be quite some time before I was in a similar position again.

Now I know these are not mutually exclusive but I feel doing more than one would be difficult for me. For one I worry about my depression/anxiety which has never entirely went away (though gotten better) so I wouldn't want to take on too much at once and crash and burn like I have in the past. Yes I know going back to school to get a degree is by far the best option long run question is would it be in your opinion the best use of said funds?

Being ATOT I know 80% of the responses are going to be "kill yourself now" but I'm posting this for the 20 or 10% serious responses. ATOT might not be the place for such a discussion but I've grown to like this community for better or worse.

Cliffs - read motherfucker do you do it? If not this thread is not for you!

 

[FleshLight]

School, then leave home, then work if you're CS or grad school if you're math.

 

[Locut0s]

Originally posted by: FleshLight
School, then leave home, then work if you're CS or grad school if you're math.

For undergrad at least I was doing a combined CS/Math degree that left things open down the road in grad school as to where I wanted to branch out.

 

[hjo3]

The pragmatic thing to do is get your degree(s) while living at home. But you know that. Seems to me that what you really want is for someone to give you "permission" to pursue options 1 or 3. So go ahead. As a random guy on an internet message board, I hereby validate your desires. Do whatever makes you happiest.

 

[Gigantopithecus]

The only question you should consider is whether you'd take more pride in being the manager of a store or having a BS in CS/Math & a job that uses that degree. Your impressive savings put the latter easily within reach if you're willing to live modestly & bust your ass in an academic setting for a few years. You said yourself you'll probably get promoted in 6 months. If you can't make the decision now, wait 6 months. If you get promoted, see how you feel being a manager. If you don't, go back to school. I hope you're asking your folks for advice, too - you owe them a hell of a lot more than you owe ATOT.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Seek counseling for your depression. Then go back to school.

 

[onlyCOpunk]

Go back to school. No question about it.

Take some time to truly decide your major as CS/Maths is completely different from small business/retail/marketing which it sounds like you are good at.

You can go back to school on loans. No need to spend your savings on University expenses, keep your savings.

One other option you didn't have in there is travel. Maybe a year overseas would help you figure things out, and it sounds like you have the money to certainly do it. You also have a Canadian passport which will grant you easy access to working opportunities in any of the Commonwealths.

 

[xSauronx]

go back to school, make sure what youre going for is what you want to do or use the rest of your life. youre clearly not in a place where you have pick one thing and stick with it if you dont like it.

 

[Muadib]

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman
Seek counseling for your depression. Then go back to school.

Yes, be sure to get help first.

 

[JEDI]

cliffs?

stay, become mgr. (how much does that make?)

goto nite school for degree. if u think u still cant cut it at a real college, goto a community college and get your associates.
- doesnt 7-11 have a education reimbursement program?
dont use your savings for college. gets govt loans. interest free till 6months after your graduate.

switch to starbucks as mgr? GREAT benefits.

dude, your 26. max acceptable age for a guy living w/parents is 24. GET OUT!

 

[AlienCraft]

Originally posted by: JEDI
cliffs?

stay, become mgr. (how much does that make?)

goto nite school for degree. if u think u still cant cut it at a real college, goto a community college and get your associates.
- doesnt 7-11 have a education reimbursement program?
dont use your savings for college. gets govt loans. interest free till 6months after your graduate.

switch to starbucks as mgr? GREAT benefits.

dude, your 26. max acceptable age for a guy living w/parents is 24. GET OUT!

He's more liberal with that age than I am, but you need to get out and take care of yourself.
A lot of reality may just be the ticket out of your constant focus on yourself.

Join the service. With that type of education, the Air Force would welcome you, and they can provide you with a perspective you can not get anywhere else.

Time to "Man UP".

 

[Locut0s]

Thanks for the replies guys.

 

[Locut0s]

Originally posted by: Gigantopithecus
The only question you should consider is whether you'd take more pride in being the manager of a store or having a BS in CS/Math & a job that uses that degree. Your impressive savings put the latter easily within reach if you're willing to live modestly & bust your ass in an academic setting for a few years. You said yourself you'll probably get promoted in 6 months. If you can't make the decision now, wait 6 months. If you get promoted, see how you feel being a manager. If you don't, go back to school. I hope you're asking your folks for advice, too - you owe them a hell of a lot more than you owe ATOT.

Thanks for the reply yes I have talked with my parents fairly extensively about this. My mother would like to see my go back to school part time and continue working part time as she worries that I won't be able to handle full time school. Thing is it's not the academic side of school that I would have trouble with (when I was able to focus I had no problem getting straight As in most tests and assignments) but more concerns I would have problems with depression / anxiety again.

 

[Locut0s]

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman
Seek counseling for your depression. Then go back to school.

Yeah that's probably a good idea. I was on an antidepressant (Paxil) for quite a while and I stopped taking it recently as a trial (didn't know if I still needed it or not as things seemed good). I've since gone downhill so I will probably need to go back on it or something similar.

 

[Locut0s]

Originally posted by: onlyCOpunk
Go back to school. No question about it.

Take some time to truly decide your major as CS/Maths is completely different from small business/retail/marketing which it sounds like you are good at.

You can go back to school on loans. No need to spend your savings on University expenses, keep your savings.

One other option you didn't have in there is travel. Maybe a year overseas would help you figure things out, and it sounds like you have the money to certainly do it. You also have a Canadian passport which will grant you easy access to working opportunities in any of the Commonwealths.

Funny you mentioned travel my father has recommended me taking just such a holiday.

 

[tfinch2]

How's the cost of living in your area?

Once you become manager, what does the pay/benefits become? Is there room for advancement after this?

If you go back to school, does it have to be for CS/Math? You can always go with something business related, considering you like your current job.

 

[Locut0s]

Originally posted by: tfinch2
How's the cost of living in your area?

Once you become manager, what does the pay/benefits become? Is there room for advancement after this?

If you go back to school, does it have to be for CS/Math? You can always go with something business related, considering you like your current job.

As far as renting I'd be easily looking at a minimum of 1000 bucks a month for even the shittiest of places. And as far as ownership is concerned Vancouver Canada ranks as one of the most expensive places in North America to own anything. Even ho hum apartments go for $300,000 if they are within some convenient distance of the city. We are very much like the SF Bay area here.

I haven't had the opportunity to look into the starting range for manager salaries but I believe they are in the 40k+ range (not that enticing), then going up from there for seniority.

 

[potato28]

Get back to school or you'll never finish it.

 

[ppdes]

Retire to a third world country.

 

[George P Burdell]

FINISH COLLEGE.

 

[onlyCOpunk]

Dude travel, trust me. Get a working holiday visa for any of the Commonwealths. Go live and work in another country for a year while you still have the opportunity. Who knows you may end up wanting to go to University in one of said countries. It WILL make you a better person, and it will force you to be 100% independent from your family parents etc. Not that it's bad being dependent, but you are 26 it's about time you figured out what making it on your own means. Leave your comfort zone and build some character.

 

[arrfep]

Loc...you are like the bizarro, Canadian version of me. In fact, it's downright eerie.

First, know that there are other (normal) people like you.

I think you need to consider two things:

1.) The distant future. In all my attempts to "figure out" what I want to do with my life, I can't seem to ever consider past a certain amount of years. Yeah, managing the store might be nice in six months, it might be nice in 5 years, but what about when you are forty? Will you be sick of working what I presume is a pretty thankless, unsatisfying job? The older you get, the less options you will have available to you. Whatever it is you want to do, do it now. It will only get harder if you have a wife/kids/mortgage.

2.) Following on that train of thought, try and figure out what you want to do. Because it doesn't matter how practical or lucrative something is, if you don't want to be doing it, you'll be typing up one of these posts every few months till you're happy.

With all that said, I agree with what JEDI said. Is it feasible to do both? I would think that you could, if work allows, scale back to 20 hours or so, and still be a full-time student. You keep your options open at your current job, but progress at school faster than if you were taking one or two classes at a time. At the wages you are earning, and with the savings you have, you should have no problem paying for school, and moving out. Then, when sumnmer comes, take off to Australia or something for a few months.

Like you said, none of your options are mutually exclusive. I think the problem with us indecisives is that we forget to remember that. We dwell on making a choice without realizing that we can have the cake and eat it too. Best of luck.

 

[Jeff7]

I had a lot else typed up, but I think it might be counterproductive.
Summary is: Make sure you can somehow stay focused and motivated to do the coursework, should you go back to school.

I passed the threshold of interest about a year ago, and this latest semester.....I just don't care. I have come to hate this major (mechanical engineering technology), and seriously regret going into it. It's exceedingly uninteresting and boring; mindless calculations over and over and over again. Find equation, plug in numbers, calculate. Woo. Hoo. And the whole "learn it yourself" method doesn't really do it for me. I can try something 5 different ways, and remember them all. But only one way actually worked, and it's tough to keep straight what failed and what worked.

If CS/Math is what really does it for you, go for it. I'd imagine that it'd be more fulfilling than working retail.


Careful with the antidepressants, too. Some of those things can cause seizures, as I found out - Wellbutrin did it to me, less than a week after starting it. That apparently should have meant I shouldn't have been driving during that time; it was damn lucky that it happened during a class. It probably scared the hell out of everyone else though; I'm told I was convulsing on the floor for a few minutes. My muscles were really goddamn sore for the next few days, too.
No more brain meds for me until the industry figures out how the hell they work.

 

[Locut0s]

Yes staying focused is something that concerns me. One of my faults is that I've always been a perfectionist. All or nothing, A+ or go home, perfect or don't do it. I've gotten better over the years but it's still a hindrance, especially if I have other emotional issues to deal with at the same time.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Locut0s
Yes staying focused is something that concerns me. One of my faults is that I've always been a perfectionist. All or nothing, A+ or go home, perfect or don't do it. I've gotten better over the years but it's still a hindrance, especially if I have other emotional issues to deal with at the same time.

For better or for worse, I lowered my standards. My first exam was a bit of a blow - 65% in calculus. To that point, that was my lowest test grade ever. Once I think I managed a B on a calc test, but that was a fluke. Most of my tests in that nightmare of a subject were solid C's. The homework was all that kept my grade up. Calc I and II - B average for both of them. Differential Equations: No homework. C. Of course that class also wasn't a prerequisite for anything, so it got assigned lower priority. And it was the very definition of monotony and tedium.

When the going gets tough, lower your standards. If it was all or nothing, I wouldn't have made it through the first semester. I'd never had test anxiety until college, so that was something quite new to contend with. I also discovered just how many really stupid mistakes I can make in a short period. 3² = 6, that sort of thing. Double-checking the problems didn't catch the mistakes, since I'd be in the same frame of mind that I was the first time. One stupid mistake like that (forgot to divide the first part of a problem by 2) cost me just shy of 2 full letter grades (19 points) on one test. After losing some other points, I finally stopped at a 70%. That was in a class which focuses on ANSYS. People around me tend to ask me for help because I'm reasonably good with the software; the professor once commented on how fast I navigated with the mouse and keyboard together.

So maybe that's not the greatest method, but I figured that I'd sooner take a B or even a C then have to withdraw from the course and start all over. Law of diminishing returns. Work 5 hours for a C, 12 hours for a B, 30 hours for an A. There wasn't enough time in the week to practice to perfection, and I didn't have the motivation to spend most of my waking life on this banal stuff.


If you've got easy access to people who can help out, either psychological/social type help, or else to help you work through problems, that might also be good to let you get through it.
I tend to procrastinate, and that means I don't have time to get help on stupid little hangups, and it also prevents me from zoning out (in?) when working on something. If I can really get into a set of problems, the rest of the world pretty much dissolves away.
Fun aside: I do tend to notice a decent number of hairs sitting on the desk after awhile. I usually rest my head on my hand as I work, and I tend to comb my fingers through my hair, which inevitably pulls some loose ones out. Fortunately, or not, I've got plenty of fresh gray hair coming in to fill the gaps.

But it is nice to be zoned in like that. I just need a good chunk of time in which to do it, because I'll lose track of everything else, usually until I notice that I really need to get to a bathroom. :laugh: